New is a low-frequency
compensation control that can be used to compensate the low-frequency gain
that will result from a near boundary placement. Three options are provided:
Normal, Contour, and Boundary.

The F52 is capable of being bi-wired or bi-amped.
Plastic inserts in the binding posts prevent the use of banana plugs.
Removing the inserts, however, is very easy, and once they are removed, the
banana plugs will plug right into the binding posts. Each speaker has four
such inserts. Of the review samples that I received, one of the F52's had
two inserts missing.

The cabinet is made from 1" thick MDF, with a rounded front baffle to reduce
diffraction. There is extensive internal bracing. Supplied spikes thread
into the base of the speaker. The spikes have a pointed end and a rounded
end. The pointed end is to be used when the F52 is to sit on a carpet. The
round end is to be used if the F52 is to be placed on a hardwood or tile
floor. A protective cap can be attached to the round end of the spikes. The
speakers come with the spikes attached, with the rounded end pointing out.
When I unpacked the speakers, I found that two of the spikes had their
protective cap split (photo below). I did not use the protective caps in my installation,
so I cannot say whether they are sturdy enough. Unfortunately, I did not
keep track of which speaker had the plastic inserts missing, so I don't know
if the speaker with the damaged protective caps was the same one or not. It
was probably just a speaker that had been to a convention or two before
being sent to me. The reason I point this out is that, perhaps, the plastic
protective cap on the rounded end should be made a bit more durable.

Revel has always advocated the use of a three-way design for center-channel
speakers where the tweeter and midrange are aligned vertically, and the
woofers are situated on either side. Delegating midrange reproduction to a
single driver can yield smoother off-axis response compared to two-way
designs that use a symmetric woofer-tweeter-woofer (WTW) horizontal
configuration. Such designs typically have off-axis response irregularities
which result from one driver being closer than the other at an off-axis
location. The unequal distance results in a natural phase shift which will
give rise to frequency response irregularities. I should point out that not
all WTW designs suffer from this problem. Designers can utilize an
asymmetric crossover arrangement to circumvent this problem. Also, a
three-way design does not guarantee a smooth off-axis response. This will be
limited by how well behaved the driver is off-axis.

The C52 is a three-way horizontally configured center channel speaker. It
utilizes a pair of 8" woofers, a 5 ¼" midrange driver (same as F52), and a
1" aluminum dome tweeter (same as F52); all drivers are housed in a sealed
enclosure. The C52 and F52 are both magnetically shielded. The crossover
frequencies are specified at 235 Hz and 2 kHz. The C52 retains the "High
Frequency Level" control that the F52 has, but it replaces the "Low
Frequency Compensation" control with a "Placement Compensation" control
that corrects the response for the three different placement options that
are offered: "Flush Mounted", "On Top of the Monitor", and "Stand
Mounted".
Like the F52, the C52 can be bi-amped or bi-wired by removing the shorting
straps. Revel does offer an optional "Pedestal" stand for the C52. I elected
to use the stand mounted option. The stand is more compact compared to the
stand that was offered with the C50, but it is heavy and does provide a firm
footing to the C52. It comes disassembled, but assembling it is relatively
straightforward.